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Bowker Data Release: What it Means

GOOD NEWS FROM FORBES AND BOWKER

Concrete data compiled by the book industry experts at Bowker will be released later this week, but are expected to demonstrate that not only is self-publishing continuing to grow in popularity, but also the the recent wave of self-publishing successes are actually fueling the traditional publishing industry as well. An article in Forbes highlighted some of the possible reasons why the two very distinct publishing arms would be linked in this way and noted some of the trends that the Bowkerdata uncovered.

David Vnjamura’s article! in Forbes Magazine “Is Publishing Still Broken? The Surprising Year in Books” is a must read. For any of you who may have felt discouraged by the recent Huffingfron Post article, take heart––it was a year too late. Understandable. The market has changed so quickly, it’s difficult to keep up with it. Davids article reassures us the market is not only better than ever for Indie Authors, but also for Traditional Publisher and the “Big 5” Publishing Houses. It is backed up with the solid facts just released from Bowker.

Does anyone still dispute the viability of self-publishing?” Let’s Get Digital blogger David Gaughran asks. “I can list well over 100 authors who are selling more than 1,000 [e-]books a month … and more than 200 authors who have sold more than 50,000 [e-]books in the last year or two.”

Such reports of head-turning success have attracted not only newer authors, but also established ones looking to grow their careers in new directions or maintain more control over what happens to their work. “In the digital world an author can do just as much as a publisher can do,” says bestseller James Scott Bell, who continues to traditionally publish fiction and nonfiction but has recently found success rounding out his body of work with independently published e-books.”

“So viable is almost the wrong word. It’s more like ‘probable.’ And that’s the challenge big publishers are facing now—how to bring value to an author in the digital realm that the author cannot generate on his own.”